Encyclopedia of the Incas

coca leaves spat onto the palm of the hand drained through the fingers. Likewise,
counting the number of small piles of maize kernels, beans, or small balls of
llama dung was very common: even numbers were good omens; odd,
unfavorable. Soothsayers frequently used black or colored pebbles, highly
treasured and passed down from one generation to the next, in the belief that
they were a gift and a sign of divine benevolence. Precise auguries were also
obtained by observing the flight of birds.
The Incas held great faith in extipicy—the examination of the entrails of
animals. In the calpa ritual, seers called calparicuy sacrificed a guinea pig, bird,
or llama, pulled out its lungs and inflated them, “reading” the markings that
appeared on the organ’s surface. The chronicler Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa
narrates that the Inca Huayna Capac, while in Quito not long before his death,
ordered a calpa ritual to find out which of his two sons, Ninan Cuyuchi or
Huascar, would succeed him. The ritual, on that occasion, produced negative
responses for both candidates.
Pyromancy, divination by fire, was an even more complex form of divination.
Powerful and feared soothsayers called yacarcas foretold issues related to state
security, such as how to prevent rebellions or attempts against the emperor’s life.
Yacarcas were part of the ruler’s entourage and accompanied him on all his trips.
According to Father Bernabé Cobo’s account, they used two large braziers,
around which they placed dishes of the most exquisite food to attract and
ingratiate supernatural entities. As they chewed coca leaves, sang, and wept, the
yacaracas poked the fire and invited the deity to enter one of the braziers,
“speaking” through the flames. If the response was unsatisfactory, they
summoned another deity to enter the second brazier and confirm the prediction.
This divinatory ritual, often attended by the Sapa Inca himself, was
accompanied by many valuable offerings including the sacrifice of children and
spotless white llamas.